Has anyone done lunges as a hamstring exercise? The reason why I ask is I'm planning to change my routine soon, and I'm looking for a replacement for the Romanian Deadlift. Some sites (for example, this one) lists lunges as a hamstring exercise, yet EXRX calls it a quad/glute exercise. According to it, the hamstrings are dynamic stabilizers, not a target or synergist of the exercise.

I've done lunges in workouts before, but only towards the end. Is it a prime-time player?

Hi Stephen. Lunges, all varieties, stationary, walking, etc are great for hams, IF you get the big stretch. Alsoterrific for the quads,/glutes/hips. Kind of hits the whole area in a way the squats, Deads don't. I would definately include them.
Tim

If I had to choose only one strength training exercise to improve a player's 40 yard dash time, I would pick snatch grip deadlifts because they work the entire posterior chain (lower back and hamstrings). Snatch grip deadlifts are a bit different than your traditional deadlift in that they recruit more of the hamstrings due to the angle of the trunk and a wider grip.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'm leaning towards changing my leg routine to step-ups, walking lunges and perhaps a couple of sets of speed snatch-grip deadlifts off a block at the end. The weights that I use for legs will have to go down, but I'll have a chance to improve my balance and flexibility

Lunges can be considered a quad dominant or a hip dominant movement depending on how you perform them. Try slideboard lunges with the front leg on the floor and the back leg on the slideboard. Pull the back leg toward the front. This will target glute and hamstring.

If not, snatch grip deadlifts are a great way to build a lot of strength off the floor for regular deadlifts and also hit the glutes/hams a lot and build good flexibility.

Cool! I was actually looking for a regular deadlift substitute for a little while. Are these performed the same but just with a much wider grip??? Or is the whole setup different? Do you use a significantly lighter load while doing these???

Thanks, im really looking forward to giving it a go! Ive been making big gains on the regular deadlift, but this last week was the first week i wasnt able to go up as much in weight as i have been. So im looking to switch over to a variation before i plateau. This sounds perfect. Especially since you said improves strength off the floor, which would be my weak point.

First impression of snatch grip deads is so so, only because i had some definite grip issues. Im sure its something i'll get past though, as i used to have grip problems with the regular dead too at first but my grip got stronger pretty quickly. I probably had my hands a little too wide as well. I just threw in a couple sets of SLDLs to make sure my hamstrings/lower back got enough work..

I've been doing lunges/step ups/snatch grip deadlifts for my leg routine over that last couple of months, with good result. I'll go back to a more conventional routine (squats, Romanian deadlifts) next week. Thanks for the feedback

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